An Indian-American teenager Tanvi Marupally has gone missing in the US and according to the local police, she ran away from home due to fear of her family being deported amid mass layoffs in the tech industry.
The incident happened in the US state of Arkansas and the community and Conway Police Department "continue to search for a missing 14-year-old girl and now there's a reward for whoever can find her," reports kark.com.
Marupally was last seen on January 17 near Conway Junior High School heading north on Davis Street.
According to the report, she was wearing a purple coat, pink pullover, blue shirt and blue jeans.
"Police said they believe one of the possible reasons why Tanvi ran away was a fear of her family being deported," the report mentioned.
Tanvi's father informed the Conway police department that as he is no longer at risk of losing his job and that leaving the country is not a concern at this time".
Charlie Crossman who owns Crossman Printing said he has made over one thousand fliers in the hopes of helping spread the word about Marupally.
"I hope just to get the word out there's people I talk to about Tanvi and they don't know about her. They live on Conway," Crossman was quoted as saying.
Crossman spoke with Marupally's parents when they came to his printing shop for assistance.
"They came in and I guess they had heard we were giving away flyers for people that wanted to hand them out and we helped them also go to a mailer," Crossman added.
Marupally's family is offering a $5,000 reward in hopes of bringing her home.
The news comes as thousands of Indian-origin tech employees on H1-B visa have lost jobs and have 60 days to find a new one, else leave the country.
(With inputs from IANS)
